The Löhne–Rheine railway is a two-track, continuously electrified railway main line from

Löhne Löhne () is a town in the district of Herford, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Löhne is situated on the river Werre, approx. 8 km north of Herford and 20 km south-west of Minden. Neighbouring places * Hüllhorst * Bad ...

in the German state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

via

Osnabrück Osnabrück (; wep, Ossenbrügge; archaic ''Osnaburg'') is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Rheine Rheine () is a city in the district of Steinfurt in Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city in the district and the location of Rheine Air Base. Geography Rheine is on the river Ems, approx. north of Münster, approx. west of Osnabrück a ...

in North Rhine-Westphalia. It runs parallel to the

Wiehen Hills The Wiehen Hills (german: Wiehengebirge, , also locally, just ''Wiehen'') are a hill range in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony in Germany. The hills run from west to east like a long finger away from the main upland area of the Lower Saxon ...

to the north and to the

Teutoburg Forest The Teutoburg Forest ( ; german: Teutoburger Wald ) is a range of low, forested hills in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. Until the 17th century, the official name of the hill ridge was Osning. It was first renamed th ...

to the south. The line opened in 1855 and 1856 and was one of the oldest railways in Germany.

History

The Löhne–Rheine line is part of the

Hanoverian Western Railway The Hanoverian Western Railway was a line from the Löhne to Emden, built by the Royal Hanoverian State Railways in the mid-19th century in the west of the Kingdom of Hanover in the modern German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

, which was built by the Royal Hanoverian State Railways in the 1850s to develop the western parts of the former

Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover (german: Königreich Hannover) was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Han ...

. The first section of this line, part of the

Emsland Railway The Emsland line (German: is a railway from Rheine via Salzbergen, Lingen, Meppen, Lathen, Papenburg and Leer to Emden, continuing to Norden and Norddeich-Mole in East Frisia in the German state of Lower Saxony. The line is named after the Ems r ...

, was opened on 24 November 1854, between

Emden Emden () is an independent city and seaport in Lower Saxony in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia and, in 2011, had a total population of 51,528. History The exact founding date of E ...

and

Papenburg Papenburg (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Papenbörg'') is a city in the district of Emsland, Lower Saxony, Germany, situated at the river Ems. It is known for its large shipyard, the Meyer-Werft, which specializes in building cruise liners. Geog ...

, but it had no connection with the existing rail network. To avoid repeated crossing of the Wiehen Hills, rather than build its own line from the Hanover–Minden line in

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detm ...

, the southern section of the Western Railway branched off from the Hamm–Minden line of the

Cologne-Minden Railway Company The Cologne-Minden Railway Company (German, old spelling: ''Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', ''CME'') was along with the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company and the Rhenish Railway Company one of the railway companies that in the mid-19th ...

(''Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'') in Löhne. On 21 November 1855 passenger operations started on the section between Löhne and Osnabrück. The former ''Hannöversche Bahnhof'' ("Hanoverian station") is now the lower part of the

Osnabrück Hauptbahnhof Osnabrück Hauptbahnhof is a railway station located in Osnabrück, Germany. The station was opened in 1895 and is located on the Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg, Löhne–Rheine, Osnabrück–Bielefeld and the Oldenburg–Osnabrück lines. The train ...

, the upper part of which was built only fifteen years later during the construction of the Cologne-Minden Railway's

Hamburg-Venlo railway The Cologne-Minden Railway Company (German, old spelling: ''Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', ''CME'') was along with the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company and the Rhenish Railway Company one of the railway companies that in the mid-19th ...

(''Hamburg-Venloer Bahn''), which is now mostly incorporated in the

Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg railway The Wanne-Eickel–Hamburg railway is the shortest railway link between the Metropole Ruhr and the Hamburg Metropolitan Region and hence one of the most important railway lines in northwest Germany. The Route runs over the cities Münster (Westf ...

. Just six months later the next section was put into operation, closing the gap from Osnabrück to

via Rheine and

Salzbergen Salzbergen is a municipality in the Emsland district, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Ems, approx. 25 km south of Lingen, and 10 km northwest of Rheine. It has the oldest oil refinery in the world, opened in 1860. ...

. On 23 June 1856 passenger trains ran for the first time between Minden and Emden.

Connecting lines

The importance of the line and its stations increased with the opening of a number of connecting lines, particularly to

Rheine station Rheine is a railway station located in Rheine, Germany. The station is located on the Löhne–Rheine, Emsland Railway (Rheine-Norddeich Mole) and the Münster–Rheine lines. The train services are operated by Deutsche Bahn and WestfalenBahn ...

; which connected with the line to Munster of the

Royal Westphalian Railway Company The Royal Westphalian Railway (german: Königlich-Westfälische Eisenbahn, KWE) was a German rail company established in 1848 with funding from the Prussian government, which later became part of the Prussian State Railways. The network eventuall ...

(''Königlich-Westfälischen Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft''), opened in 1856, the Duisburg–Quakenbrück line of the

Rhenish Railway Company The Rhenish Railway Company (German language, German: ''Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft'', RhE) was along with the Cologne-Minden Railway Company (CME) and the Bergisch-Märkische Railway Company (BME) one of the railway companies that in the m ...

(''Rheinischen Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft''), opened in 1879, and the former line to Ochtrup of the

Prussian State Railways The term Prussian state railways (German: ''Preußische Staatseisenbahnen'') encompasses those railway organisations that were owned or managed by the State of Prussia. The words "state railways" are not capitalized because Prussia did not have a ...

(''Preußischen Staatseisenbahnen''), opened in 1905. Two lines connected at Eversburg station, the

Tecklenburg Northern Railway Tecklenburg () is a town in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Its name comes from the ruined castle around which it was built. The town is situated on the Hermannsweg hiking trail. The coat of arms shows an anchor ...

to Altenrheine and the Oldenburg Southern Railway to Oldenburg Hbf. In addition, there are other links, such as that of the

Teutoburg Forest Railway Teutoburg may refer to: * The Teutoburg Forest, a range of low, forested mountains in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. * The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, described as the Varia ...

Gütersloh Gütersloh () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the area of Westphalia and the administrative region of Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a district of the same name and has a population of 100,194 peo ...

, connecting in Ibbenbüren station, and the Ravensberg Railway to

Rahden Rahden is a town in the far north of North Rhine-Westphalia between Bielefeld and Bremen and between Hanover and Osnabrück. Rahden is part of the Minden-Lübbecke District in East Westphalia-Lippe. Rahden was first mentioned in 1033 and 1816 to ...

, connecting at

Bünde station Bünde (Westf) station is located in Bünde in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on the Löhne–Rheine railway and Rahden–Herford railway. The rail services are operated by Deutsche Bahn, WestfalenBahn and Eurobahn. History The ...

, or in

Kirchlengern Kirchlengern is a municipality in the district of Herford, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Kirchlengern is situated on the river Else, approx. 10 km north of Herford. Neighbouring places * Hüllhorst * Löhne * Hiddenhausen ...

Herford station Herford station is a junction station with four platforms and seven platform tracks in the town of Herford in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It lies on the quadruple track, electrified Hamm–Minden railway, a section of the original ...

on the Hamm–Minden line.

Development of the line

The line was gradually duplicated between 1902 and 1916. On 29 September 1974, the first section of overhead wiring was erected between Osnabrück and Rheine and on 30 May 1976 this was followed by the electrification of the section between Osnabrück and Löhne.

Rail services

A two-hour

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

service operates on the line from

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

(some to/from

Szczecin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

) via

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

and Rheine to

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport ( nl, Luchthaven Schiphol, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in the province ...

, and there are individual services from

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

. In addition, there are several regional transport services: *on the whole line,

Regional-Express In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with average speed at about 70–90 km/h (top speed often 160 km/h) as it calls at f ...

services are operated by DB Regio Niedersachsen every two hours on route RE 60 (''Ems-Leine-Express'') between Rheine and Brunswick, *on almost the whole line, Regionalbahn services are operated hourly by ''Westfalenbahn'' from Rheine to Kirchlengern on route RB 61 (''Wiehengebirgs-Bahn''), continuing to

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...

*on the section of Bünde–Kirchlengern, the hourly Ravensberger Bahn service is operated by ''EuroBahn'' (

Keolis Keolis is a multinational transportation company that operates public transport systems. The company manages bus, rapid transit, tram, coach networks, rental bikes, car parks, water taxi, cable car, trolleybus and funicular services. Based ...

) on the Ravensberg Railway from Bielefeld Hbf via Bünde to Rahden, *and on the short stretch between the Bünde and Löhne, a generally hourly Regionalbahn service is operated from Monday to Friday by ''EuroBahn'' on route RB 77 (''Weser-Bahn''), continuing to

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...

References

External links

* NRW railway archive of André Joost: * trecken/2992.htm Description of line 2992(only part in North Rhine-Westphalia, German)
Information on railways around Osnabrück
(German)
Homepage of the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Transport Association
(German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lohne-Rheine Railway Railway lines in North Rhine-Westphalia Railway lines in Lower Saxony Railway lines opened in 1854 Emsland (region) Buildings and structures in Minden-Lübbecke Melle, Germany Buildings and structures in Osnabrück Buildings and structures in Osnabrück (district)